“Bhaiya..I am mad. Isn’t it?” Ketan asked in a low almost whispering voice. The innocenceof the question was unnerving. Arjun felt a strong hatred towards the world at this particular moment.
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First time when Arjun met Ketan it was in the central park in Pushp Vihar. Arjun just moved into this society and was enjoying a Sunday evening relaxing in the park.It was late evening so the crowd in the park had lessened. But still a group of kids could be seen playing in the park. Some were just sitting on the grass enjoying the cool breeze in the late summer twilight.
A lady was walking with a guy who seemed to be 14-15 years in age. The lady held him by his arm and the guy was walking in a wobbly manner. In course of their walking when they crossed Arjun, he noticed that the guy’s face and his hands were little twisted. He was continuously speaking but it was difficult to understand what he was saying. The old lady walking with him was patiently listening to what he was saying and was nodding. When the guy saw Arjun sitting on the bench he smiled and waved his hands saying
“Hello Bhaiya”.
Arjun was listening to Back in Black by AC/DC through his headphones. Seeing a guy waving at him he took the headphones off and waved back. The guy walked away from him in the same wobbly fashion.
Few days later it was a holiday and Arjun was working on his laptop. His maid had come and was washing the utensils. Arjun remembered the guy at the park, he inquired from his maid.
“Laxmi, that day in the park I saw a guy walking with an old lady. He seemed different. Do you know who he is?”
“arey I know everything that goes on around here saab.”
Arjun chuckled.
Arjun chuckled.
Laxmi continued “That was Ketan and Verma family’s full time maid. We call her Aunty.”
“But that guy , Ketan he was walking and talking in a different manner. He is having some problem?”
“haan saab. It is something called austijam. Once aunty told me about it. She heard it from the doctor who had come to see Ketan”.
“you mean Autism?”
“yeah yeah. Austijam. Poor kid that Ketan. His parents are such nice fellows. Don’t know why god has done such a thing to the child.”
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Their next meeting was again in the park. That day the old lady was sitting with Ketan on a bench probably she was tired and could no longer walk. Ketan was restless he wanted to carry out walking. He was nagging her. Arjun was watching all this from a distance. He got up and asked the old lady can he take Ketan for a walk.
At first the lady was unwilling. But by chance Laxmi was crossing the park,probably returning home after a day’s work; she told the lady that “Arjun saab”is a “bhale aadmi”. So reluctantly the lady agreed.
Arjun started the walk with Ketan.
“573 steps”. Said Ketan
“What?” Arjun did not understand.
“573 steps in one complete round”. Ketan absent mindedly replied. His speed of walking was very slow. But he had some kind of intelligence about him.
“So do you study?” Arjun wanted to keep the conversation going.
“Yes. Do you study?” Ketan asked him back.
“Yes. I did engineering” replied an amused Arjun.
“ohh. So you must be good with maths. What is the square root of 169?” asked Ketan enthusiastically.
“that’s easy. It is 13” Arjun replied proudly.
“what is the square of 169?” asked Ketan in the same innocent enthused manner.
“Excuseme?” Arjun was taken aback at the sudden escalation of complexity!
“28561”.Replied Ketan with a laugh.
“Öhh. So you are good with numbers. But I think you have crammed that one” said Arjun in a teasing manner.
“goon. Ask me any basic math calculation” Ketan said confidently.
“Okay.Hmm. What is 28 multiplied by 89?”
“2492”
“Waitlet me get the calculator in my mobile” Arjun checked and was surprised to see thatthe answer was correct.
“Okay a tough one. 2492 multiplied by 169”. Arjun started feeding the number in his mobile calculator.
Ketan pondered for a little while and replied “421148”. And it was again the correct answer. They continued this game till the round was complete. The old lady got up and thanked Arjun. Ketan said, “Bhaiya is good”. And waved bye.
Arjun smiled and waved bye bye.
This become almost a regular routine. Every Sunday Arjun used to take a walk with Ketan. On odd days when he was back from office early, in those days also he used to go down to the park and have a walk with Ketan. Ketan liked him immensely. His face used to fill up with happiness whenever he saw Arjun. Ketan’s parents found out about Arjun giving company to Ketan and invited him over to their house. They were genuinely good people. Both were teachers. Ketan showed his drawings to Arjun, which were absolutely beautiful. Most of them were featuring dogs. Ketan was very fond of dogs and this common love for dogs made the bond deeper between Arjun and Ketan. The Vermas became almost an extended family for him.
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It was one Sunday evening. Arjun had gone to CP to catch up with his friends. It was around 7 pm when he returned back to Pushp Vihar. He took a bath and went down to the park. But nowhere could he see Ketan. In fact that day the park seemed odd Kids were not playing, rather sitting in groups animatedly discussing something.Aunties were gossiping rather than doing their yoga. Arjun could see Laxmi sitting with a group of maids. He thought of asking her about Ketan. Seeing Arjun coming towards her group Laxmi got up.
“Have you seen Ketan and Aunty?” Arjun asked Laxmi.
“Something terrible has happened Saab.” Laxmi said in a tense voice. “Today aunty was walking with Ketan as usual. Few of us were chatting amongst ourselves sitting there (she pointed to the place where they were sitting). Maybe aunty got tired of walking and sat down with us on the grass. Ketan was sitting on a bench nearby. Suddenly we heard him arguing with Balwant saab from J block. Balwant saab was training his dog as usual. Listening to the argument we got up to take Ketan back. But by then he picked up a stone lying nearby and hit Balwant saab with it.” Laxmi stopped for a breath.
Arjun was still processing this information, “But why did Ketan hit Balwant Saab. As far as I know him, he won’t hit a fly.”
“That is the strangest thing Saab. We all were shocked. Balwant Saab got a cut on his forehead, but still he held Ketan by his collar and slapped him. You know our Ketan no, he is barely able to walk without support, as a result of the slap he fell down on the ground and was crying. Aunty held him up and asked what happened, amidst his crying and sobbing he was only pointing towards Balwant saab and was repeating he is a bad man…he is a bad man . Other people also gathered to enjoy the scene. Somehow Aunty managed to take him back home. These brat rich kids were copying his style of walking and were mocking him, calling him paagal and other bad things. Later Balwant saab and few others went to his home too.God knows what happened there”
“So Ketan is in his home?” Arjun asked.
Laxmi nodded, wiping a tear from her eyes. Without wasting a second Arjun started walking towards Verma’s flat.
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When he rang the bell Aunty opened the door.
Mr and Mrs Verma were sitting in on the sofa. Mr. Verma was looking glum while Mrs. Verma’s eyes were swollen clearly indicating that she had been crying.
“What happened Mr. Verma?” Arjun asked.
Mr.Verma let out a sigh. He just said “I am tired now Arjun.” and left the room. Aunty brought a glass of water for Arjun. He sat down on the sofa.
Mrs. Verma spoke after sometime. She were sobbing as she spoke “they say my child is insane. They are saying I should put him in a mental institution or hospital till he is “cured”. Balwant is threatening to lodge a FIR for attempt to murder. Why would my Ketan want to murder him? He is so weak. And Balwant slapped him. His slap was more dangerous to my Ketan than Ketan’s throw of stone. But they just don’t understand. One of them even said I should put my son on a leash. Can you believe it? They think my son is some sort of an animal. They do not wish to see him around in the society anymore.”
“But why Ketan hit him with the stone? Ketan is not like that”.
“I don’t know. Every time any of us ask him anything he just says he is bad man.” Replied Mrs. Verma exasperatedly
.
“Where is Ketan right now?”
“Heis in his room”.
Arjun got up to go in Ketan’s room.
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Ketan was sitting on a chair kept near the window. Arjun went ahead and sat on as tool next to where he was sitting. As soon as he saw Arjun, he hugged him and started crying. Arjun allowed him to cry till he was finished. The tears soaked the sleeve of his t shirt.
After crying for some time, Ketan finally calmed down.
Arjun wiped his tears and asked, “What happened Ketan? Why you hit Mr. Balwant?”
Ketan,“he is a bad man”
“Why?What did he do?”
“He was being mean to his dog”
Arjun did not understand. “Why do you think he was being mean to his dog?”
“He was training his dog, Bucky. He wanted Bucky to jump across the cement bench. But bucky was not able to do it. Whenever bucky failed to make a jump he tugged him by his collar and hit him with a stick.”
“So that’s why you hit him with a stone?”
“No.I was seeing this from the bench. But bucky was now very tired. He did not have any strength, still the bad man was pushing him. Due to failed attempts at jumping, Bucky’s belly was getting rubbed on the cement bench and he was crying. But the bad man was still beating him with a stick. So I went to him and asked him to stop it” Ketan stopped for a breath.
“Then why did you hit him?”
“When I asked him to stop he said get out from my sight weirdo and again tugged bucky by his collar and forced him to make the jump. When bucky couldn't he hit him with his stick once again. It is the point when I hit him with the stone.”
Arjun was at a loss to say anything. Although his biological age was 15 years still Ketan had the brains of a 5 year old. And defending someone he loved from a bad man was completely justified to Ketan. In his mind it was very simple. He was just protecting the weak.
“Bhaiya they said I am mad.”
Arjun put his hand on Ketan’s shoulders. Both he and Ketan were looking out of the open window. The sun had set and evening was setting in. the street lights were on in Pushp Vihar.
“Bhaiya..I am mad. Isn’t it?” Ketan asked in a low almost whispering voice. The innocence of the question was unnerving. Arjun felt a strong hatred towards the world at this particular moment.
He looked straight into Ketan’s eyes and said, “No. You are not mad. In fact you are saner than most of us”.
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Almost one week later a loaded truck departed from Pushp Vihar. Followed by a car. Mr. Verma was driving, Mrs. Verma was sitting in front with him. Ketan was sitting in the back with Aunty.
“bhaiya, what is 289 multiplied by 391?” asked Ketan with a wry smile
“I don’t know”. Arjun said forcing a smile.
“It is 11299”. Said Ketan
“You have mugged it up”. Arjun faked a laugh, but he was closer to tears. It was the final good bye for now.
The car left the gates of the society. Ketan waved from inside the car. Arjun waved back.
Ketan kept looking from the rear window of the car till the car took a right turn and went on to Mehrauli Badarpur road.
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